Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Saudi Arabian team has won two silver and four bronze medals at the 63rd International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) that concluded in Oslo, capital of Norway, on Saturday. The IMO was organized by the Scientific Olympiad Foundation (SOF).

The Saudi mathematical team, represented by the King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba), and the Ministry of Education, scored new achievement in the 2022 IMO competitions held from July 6 to 16 this year. This is the greatest ever achievement for the Saudi team, which included among the 589 male and female students, representing 106 countries, for the first time in the history of the Kingdom’s 17 previous participations in this competition. With this achievement, Saudi Arabia’s rank rose 16 places to 22 this year among the participating countries.

The student Marwan Khayat from the Department of Education in Makkah and Hadi Al-Aithan from Al-Ahsa Education have bagged silver medal. Khayat has scripted history in the name of Saudi Arabia with adding 15 international medals to his credit.

Those who won bronze medals included Muhammad Al-Debaisi, Ali Al-Ramadan and Mahdi Al-Baik – all from the Eastern Province Education and Moaz Al-Ghamdi from the Makkah Education.

Dr. Amal Al-Hazaa, secretary general of Mawhiba, said that the Saudi team’s brilliant victory in this prestigious international competition is a source of pride for the nation, which is being honored today in the Kingdom of Norway for an outstanding achievement of distinguished Saudi talents. She appreciated Minister of Education Dr. Hamad Al-Sheikh for his great and continuous support for Mawhiba and for its talented children from among public education students.

Dr. Amal said: “This is the first time that the Saudi team has achieved six medals in the Olympics, with a total of 168 grades, which represent an increase of 44 grades over the highest total achieved by the team previously in 2019, in addition to achieving the highest score for a Saudi student, which is 32, which is six degrees higher than the highest score for a previous student in 2019.

In the ranking, the Kingdom has surpassed Australia, Singapore, Brazil, India, Turkey, France, Indonesia, Mexico and Hungary. The new achievement is the outcome of the joint and fruitful efforts between the Mawhiba Foundation and the Ministry of Education, to invest in the talented and creative Saudi energies and contribute to achieving development priorities in accordance with the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, its executive programs and development projects. She noted that this participation comes within the Mawhiba Program for International Olympiads, which is held in a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Education, and it is one of the 20 different programs and initiatives of advanced curricula and enrichment programs offered annually by Mawhiba and the ministry to gifted students.

Dr. Al-Hazaa said that students in the Mawhiba International Olympiad Program, in a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Education, undergo intensive training, at an average of 1,200 hours annually, locally and internationally, in the scientific path chosen by the student, at the hands of selected local trainers and international Olympiad experts, with the support of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, Princess Noura University, and King Saud University.

Dr. Al-Hazaa stated that this Olympiad is one of the most prestigious and difficult international competitions, and the focus of the attention of all prestigious universities to attract students participating in it, as they are best able to identify patterns, solve problems logically, and deal with statistics, probability theory, and large sets of data to see the future.

With this achievement, the Kingdom raised to its credit total 48 prizes. The total number of medals and certificates of appreciation that Saudi talented students have won in international competitions reached 512 international prizes.